On September 24, 2020, the program for the University Sunrise Rotary Club featured Trish Millines Dziko.
Trish is the co-founder and Executive Director of TAF. She founded the Technology Access Foundation (TAF) in 1996 after spending fifteen years as a developer, designer and manager in the high tech industry. A native of New Jersey who attended Monmouth College (now Monmouth University) on a basketball scholarship, she graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science in 1979 at a time when few people of color and few women were entering the field. Her successful career brought her to Microsoft in the late-1980s, just as the pioneering software company was set to become a worldwide brand.
Over the next decade of tremendous growth, she saw very little change in the high tech industry: women and people of color remained grossly underrepresented. After careful research, she traced the root of the problem to the lack of access to rigorous, relevant technology training in our public schools, particularly those in traditionally underserved communities of color. Trish left Microsoft in 1996, the same year she founded TAF. More information about TAF is available at www.techaccess.org.
Trish has led the growth of TAF into a statewide leader in STEM education, operating TAF Academy (a 6th to 12th grade, award-winning public school that is co-managed by TAF and the Federal Way Public School District), increasing the number of teachers of color through the Martinez Fellowship, and partnering with public schools to transform them into academic environments that will promote the highest level of student learning.
In addition to her work at TAF, Trish remains a committed, proactive leader and serves on the boards of several organizations that focus on children and education.
Trish and her spouse live on Vashon Island and are the proud parents of four children.
Trish said that we need a new revolution in education. Our expectations of students is too low, she said. She was critical of over-reliance on standardized tests and said that we need more resources in education.
She stressed that the mission of TAF included the building of relationships with public education. Teacher training, increasing diversity in staff, expanding the role of the community in education, and educational context are important objectives. Community support included both resources and the provision of role models for students.